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Arkansas

Sam Pittman breaks down fall debut for Taylen Green

IMG_0985by:Griffin McVeigh•08/01/24•

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© Nelson Chenault

For the first time in the Sam Pittman era, KJ Jefferson is not on the Arkansas roster. While Felipe Franks was the 2020 starter, Jefferson has been the guy for the last three seasons in Fayetteville. But there was a moving on from the program this offseason as Jefferson is now in Orlando with UCF and Gus Malzhan.

Pittman turned to the NCAA transfer portal to find his new starting quarterback, landing with Taylen Green. While Green was with the program for spring practice, the start of fall camp meant the new era had really begun.

Pittman gave his assessment of Green on Thursday after seeing him out there. Not a perfect day by any means, saying some throws got away from the fourth-year player. Although he did admit the conditions may have been going against the offense, there may have been some left to be desired.

“His leadership was good,” Pittman said. “I don’t know if he threw the ball as well as he’d like to today. A lot of the times, offensively, we were going against whatever breeze was out there… You get a guy like that, you want him, every time, to throw a completion. But as a head coach, you want the DBs to be all over them too.”

Pittman also praised Malachi Singleton for his first day of practice. Singleton is in his second year with the program after being highly rated coming out of high school. Spring ball was a good period for Singleton and potentially gives hope for the future.

But this is still expected to be Green’s team, even after a rough opening. Green represented Arkansas at SEC Media Days and brings quite a bit of experience to Fayetteville. The last two seasons at Boise State saw him throw for 3,794 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions on 483 pass attempts.

Luckily, there is plenty of time for Green to work on his mistakes. Thursday was just Day 1 of fall camp and plenty of practices are ahead of Arkansas. Green will need to settle in at some point though and you have to imagine Pittman wants that soon.

Arkansas will begin the season with Arkansas Pine-Bluff before traveling to Stillwater to play against Oklahoma State. One day is not anything to make a huge fuss about as expectations for Green will still be high heading into a critical season for the Hogs.